Secret Treasures
by WhiteLight12
Summary: Jennifer Hawkins had always dreamed of going on an adventure. So it comes true when she goes to Treasure Planet with her little brother Jim Hawkins and they both rely on courage and learn to come together to make it through this grand adventure they'll never forget.
1. Chapter 1 Prologue

That time of year again. The time of year of being a studious captain. My name is Jennifer Hawkins. Or Jen Hawkins as some would prefer. Before becoming said captain, I grew up on the planet Montressor. For the first seventeen years of my life, I only had one friend. That friend was actually my brother, his name is Jim Hawkins. We were always very close ever since we were just little kids. Not one minute was spent apart from one another. What made us that way was mostly our father. From what I don't understand… he didn't seem to be attached to us in any way. The rebellion in us took over when he had left and our mother might as well unscrewed our heads right then and there but for her sake, she didn't.

As much as she annoyed us at our teen years, we knew she loved us and only wanted what was best for us but in our arrogant and angsty state of mind, it had gone over our heads by a lot. My little brother is a person you could always ask for as a brother. He was fun to hang around with, always lended a helping hand when you needed it, and the best friend you could ask for. I wish I could thank him for that. He isn't dead if that's what you're thinking. No, he's off sailing in his own ship in another galaxy. It's fine though. I'm sure he misses me as much as I miss him. Our bond had grown even more over the course of our last unexpected adventure together. Now I bet you're wondering, how did we become successful captains if we were such rebellious, angsty teens? Well, I'll tell you all about it.


	2. Chapter 2 Rebellious Teens

My eyes open as I wake up from that same dream again about Captain Flint. I groan in frustration as I put my hand on my forehead to feel I was warm. But not enough to where I was sick. As I could tell from the window of my bedroom, it was becoming morning. I'm not a morning person and honestly I don't think I'll ever become one. I wanted to stay in bed that is until I remember that my little brother Jim and I were going to fix our solar surfers so we could ride them today so we could get lost in our constant twine of intimate fun. That is if our mom lets us. It always irritates us when she doesn't let us. Maybe she does it for a reason. But it doesn't matter because what else have Jim and me got to do on this good for nothing planet?

Plus I've been to juvy twice cause of those stupid robocops. The second time I've kept Jim from going by taking the blame for him because I got into two fights both fights there with one of the inmates and I knew they'd try to hurt Jim since they trashed talked about him. And if you want to not get hurt, you DON'T talk smack about my brother; especially around me. Don't drive nails into our backs like that.

"You're not sleeping in again are ya Jen?" the voice of Jim made me grin. "Hardy har. I'm not a mornin' person Jim. You know that." I joke, sitting up and I swing my bare legs over the edge of my bed as I was wearing shorts and my white tank. Jim was already ready to go in his casual beige shirt, black coat with a collar, and green baggy pants and black boots with orange outlining on it. "Oh I know it. But you didn't forget about today did you?" he asked, leaning against the doorway of our shared bedroom.

I stretch to as far as my limbs could reach. "Alright. I'll be ready in 20 minutes." I say, "And no I didn't. Just hate wakin' up in the morning." "Okay, I'll be right outside. Let's hope Mom won't stop us." Jim said, lowering his voice as she won't hear him. "True. It's so embarrassing." I agree with him. He nods then leaves to go get our tools we will need for our solar surfers.

I quickly change into my casual clothing of my white tank, black leather coat with a collar that covered the sides of my neck, my baggy cargo pants, work boots, and pony tail with my bangs hanging by my face to give me my a tomboyish appearance. In coming out of our shared bedroom, Jim had the bag of tools to use on our solar surfers. The sound of alien's eating mom's cooking filled my ears which meant she looked busy enough to notice us. But I was proved wrong when we reach the bottom of the stairs.

"Where do you two think you're going?" she asks in a demanding tone. I lower my head in annoyance and groan. "To work on our solar surfers. What else?" I respond in an angsty tone. She hates it when either of us talk to her like that. But we just wanted to get out of there. I'm not in the mood to be lectured this morning. "Don't talk to me like that Jen! You both need to stay here to help me. Do you both want to throw your futures away like they're nothing?" she lectured intently. We sigh in annoyance. Honestly, I think my future's already gone because of my time well spent in juvy. Even lying for Jim. I got out of there almost a year and a half ago but she'll never let me live it down. "Whatever..." Jim says aloofly.

I look back for one moment to see Mom distracted. That's when we took the opportunity to take off before she could even finish, leaving the door wide open behind us. The air this morning felt so good as it felt cool. Good thing we got our coats then. Our solar surfers were still where we left them last time we used them but they didn't have their sails up. "Okay, mine's got a few wires loose. Gimme the pliers." I ask, inspecting my surfer. He doesn't argue and hands them to me. I get under my solar surfer and begin to work on it.

While working on it, I begin to think about what mom was talking about before we bailed on her. "Throw away our entire future. Huh. What future?" Jim mutters. "Yeah. It's out the window by now." I agree, finishing mine up. In my peripheral vision, the form of an alien kid walked up to us. And I am a sucker for kids younger than Jim and I. "Wow... Did you guys build those solar surfers?" he asked, being curious as he observed our structures. "Mm-hm." Jim responded, tapping his solar surfer. "Hey kid. Check this out." I say with a grin. The kid looks to where I was and his eyes widen at seeing our sails pop open.

"Awesome!" the kid exclaims. I stand up and rub my hands together. Our solar surfers were now ready to go. "I got a scooter. But it's busted." the kid said sadly. "Oh yeah? Let's have a look." Jim offered. "I'll stay here and watch the solar surfers." I say, sitting on my solar surfer. I smile at Jim when he kneels down to see what the issue was with the kids scooter. He then comes back to his solar surfer. "What's the problem?" I ask, watching him dig through the bag. "He's got a few cables loose. So I'm gonna help him with that." he responded. I nod in response. "Good call little bro." I say. It made me happy to see Jim helping a kid out. But it soon died out when we see the alien kids dad appear.

"We got it." he told us. "Oh okay." Jim said with disappointment. I watch as the kids dad helps him out with it. Seeing this hurt both of us because it only reminded us that Dad was nothing to us and that he was never coming back for us. And watching him walking out on us utterly broke my heart into pieces... Not wanting anymore of this, I jump on my solar surfer and take off from that spot in a flash. The tears flow down my freckled cheeks because seeing that only brought back those painful memories that I want to keep suppressed...


	3. Chapter 3 Getting Into Trouble Again

I knew Jim was just as hurt as I was when he saw that little scene. He witnessed Dad leaving abruptly as well as me and he too felt just as heart broken as I did that day. And the fact we saw that little scene only reminded of how much our father didn't love us. He doesn't know how much damage that did to both of us after he left...

I then hear Jim fly next to me on his right side. "Are you okay, Jen?" he asks in concern. He too had hurt written all over his voice. There's no point in hiding it because I've known him my whole life. "Yeah. I'm okay." I answer, using the heel of my hand to wipe my tears away. "It's about Dad isn't it?" Jim asked. "Don't tell me you're not hurting from that too Jim?" I say, looking at him. "Of course I am Jen. We've been through a lot but... at least we got each other right?" he smiled back at me. I chuckle at this. "Yeah that's true." I say. That then gave me an idea to help me get my mind off of what we saw earlier.

"Hey Jim, race ya!" I shout, suddenly taking off ahead of him. "Hey! Wait up!" he called playfully. The sound of his solar surfer was closing on me as we sped up through the canyons with the wind blowing through my hair and my clothes. "I'm coming for you Jen!" Jim chuckled. "Oh try me little man!" I snip in a playful tone. Just as he promised, he did catch up with me and we were both above the clouds.

I use the heel of my foot to close the sail to my solar surfer once we reached its highest peak. I let my eyes close and felt my start to fall through the clouds in a spiral of twists and turns. Even though the drop alone made our stomachs drop, it meant something. It meant that we were having fun.

Pressing the sail button again, I pull up and flew straight. "This way Jen!" Jim called with excitement. We were heading into a construction area. "Right behind ya!" I reply, increasing the speed on my solar surfer. I do grinding on one of the pipes, causing golden sparks flew off of it. "Hey Jen! I dare you to go through there!" he said, referring to a circular dirt compactor. "You got it chief! Look out!" I say, pressing the button to close the sail. The closer I got to it, the more excited I got because my heartbeat escalated. I bend down and swiftly fly through it all the while bending sideways while grabbing my board with an excited yell. Jim the exact same thing.

We then get above the clouds again and we end it in a high five. "You're quite the dare devil huh?" Jim asks. "Don't you know me by now little bro?" I chuckle. We share a laugh before it was casually interrupted by the sound of police sirens coming from behind us. I sigh in frustration and close my eyes. "Ah great." Jim sighed. "Just what we need right now." I groan. I'm too familiar with these guys and they're too familiar with me.

Afterwhile, we go back to the Benbow Inn. I already know we'd be in so much trouble with mom and I can see it now. She'd be so mad at us and I'd be reminded of my misadventures in juvy twice. And I hate to be reminded of it. Even Jim knows that. The right Robocop pushes the door open and instant embarrassment washes over me. I keep my head lowered but keep my eyes raised. "Mrs. Hawkins?" the second cop says.

At that, Mom turns with a handful of plates and instantly drops them at the drops them at the sight of us, letting them shatter all over the floor. "Jim! Jen!" she shouted out of shock. In a cocky tone, we chuckle before saying, "Okay, thanks for the lift guys." & "We can tip you later." We try to move but they end up stopping us. "We apprehended your son and daughter operating solar vehicles in a restricted area." the second cop said. "Moving violation. 904 section 15. Paragraph-" the other cop stumped. But Jim roped in the sentence. "Six?" he said, rubbing his cheek with his right hand. The cop thanked him for it. "Don't mention it." I answer in a smart aleck remark. "Jen!" Mom scolded. It irritates me when she does that. I put my hands in my pockets.

I end up tuning out what was being said next from the cops. But if I had to make a guess, they were bringing up the time I got arrested the last time. Even Delbert, our family friend, who happens to be a dog type alien, tried to dumb things down a bit only for the cops to tell him to back off because this conversation wasn't his business.

"If this happens again, they will have a one way ticket to juvenile hall. Especially your daughter, ma'am." the cop informs, getting me to groan. I saw that coming. That only irritated me even more. "Thank you officers. It won't. Happen. Again." Mom apologizes, tightening her voice at us. I look down in guilt and in annoyance. "We see their type all the time. Dead enders. Losers." that cop said. I jerk my head to look at them with a look of offense on my face. Jim too was offended at that. Screw these guys...

With that, the cops leave the Inn. Out of my peripheral vision, all the aliens who were eating were watching us. This was so embarrassing. "Jim, Jen, I have had enough you two! Do you guys really want to go to juvy? Is that it? Especially you Jen. I don't want you going back there." Mom said. I groan in annoyance as I picked up some plates from the floor.

"Mom, don't make a big deal about this. It was just me and Jen." Jim said. "Those cops won't get off our-" I start before she gives me the mom look. I just roll my eyes and turn away from her. I had enough of this and I look to Jim, who was taking dishes in the kitchen. "I'll meet you outside..." I say, rubbing the back of my neck. "Alright." he said, using his back to get the door open.

Mom shakes her head in disapproval and it made me feel like a disappointment. It hurt so much... I sigh and walk outside. All the prying eyes of the aliens here made me feel worse than I already am. I know Jim feels the same.


	4. Chapter 4 The Map

I lounged up on the roof with my knees pulled up to my chest as close as they could get. My arms wrapped around them so I was hugging them. Today was going great until of the events of earlier. I was so ready to just spend the day just riding my solar surfer with Jim. However, being reminded of my time in the slammer twice in a row. Mom knows I hate talking about it but she brings it up anyway as if she doesn't care. Jim also knows of this and he doesn't bother with asking me about it because he knows how personal it is for me.

I use the heel of my right hand to wipe away the oncoming tears that started to flow down my freckled cheeks. They've been stuck inside me for as long as I can remember. These tears were ones of pain that I haven't felt in a long time. Not only did my rebellion cause me to go to juvy twice, but it made me put the blame on our deadbeat father. He had left when I was 9 and Jim was 7. I don't want to get into detail of when he left us but I can tell you of how he was when he was around. Distant. That's the only word that I can describe him as. There were times that he did pay attention to us however, they were only for a very short time. Jim and I grew closer the more we grew. We had to come together. What choice did we have?

"Jen?" Jim's voice called, getting me to snap back into reality. My head turned to where his voice came from. He was coming onto the roof as well. He had a look of concern on his face as he looked at me. "Oh… hey. I didn't hear you come up." I said, sniffling. He didn't hesitate to sit down on my right side. When I'm feeling upset like I am now, he does what he can to help me with said problem. "You okay?" he asked. I didn't want to lie to him about being fine. "No, I can't think straight Jim. All I wanted to do was just spend time with you on our solar surfers. I feel so… pathetic." I say, looking at him. "Don't say that, Jen. We've been through a lot in the past few years. Those cops took the last bit of fun we have left on this boring planet." Jim replies, looking up at the sky. Man, he wasn't wrong about that.

The sky was starting to become grey and I could hear the sound of distant thunder making it's way over to us. It would be raining soon from the looks of it. Just then, I could hear the voices of Delbert and Mom talking. "I don't know how you manage them, Sarah. Trying to run a business while raising felons- like Jim and Jen." Delbert said, getting me to roll my eyes. Thanks Delbert. Just what I needed to hear. "Managing them? I'm at the end of my rope with them. Ever since their father left… they have never recovered." Mom replied, getting me to close my eyes in anger. I don't need to hear about him. "And you know how smart they are. They've built their solar surfers when they were 8 and 10! And yet they're failing in school. They're constantly in trouble, even Jen has been to juvy twice already. It's as if they're strangers to me." Mom said, making us feel much worse than we already were.

Jim and I exchanged looks because we were feeling the same thing. However, before we could say anything, the loud sputtering sound of a air ship falling out brought us out of our melancholy stage. My eyes widened all the way as they followed the sputtering ship. The ship crashed landed on the edge of the Inn with a loud bang. The two of us slide down the roof and land fast on the ground. Whoever was in there could be hurt bad based on how they landed.

Jim was right behind me and our footsteps were mixed together as we run to the ship. "Hey mister?!" Jim called. When we get there, I pound the glass with a clenched fist. "You god in there right?" I call. As if on cue, the hand of a salamander hit the glass. "Agh!" I yell out and jump back from being startled and my heart jumped into my throat. I ended up falling on the ground. The door to the ship pops open and smoke accompanies it. Then, a large salemadar falls out in a cape and what I can assume to be a captain's hat. A chest falls out with him. Jim helps me to my feet and once I got my balance I brushed myself down.

The salamander then jumps up and grabs Jim and I by our jackets. I start to resist by how tight grip. "He's a-coming. Can you hear 'em?" the old salamander said, looking up at the sky a moment before he started to stretch his neck out to look at us dead in the eye. "Those gears and gyros clickin' and whirrin' like the devil himself!" he said in a raspy voice. Jim and I give each other equal puzzled looks. He let us go and I rub the back of my neck. "Um… Did you hit your head on the way down?" Jim wondered, rubbing his temple. "Yeah, I think it was pretty hard cause I don't follow at all." I say agreeing with him. All of what this lizard was saying wasn't giving me any insight on what was going on.

The lizard walks from us and goes to his chest. "He's after my chest. That fiendish cyborg and his band of cutthroats." he grunts, putting the chest on his shoulder. "But they'll have to pry it from Billy Bones dead fingers before I- argh!" he suddenly drops the chest and falls into a band of coughing fits. I backed up a bit with widened eyes and my arms held up a bit. "Oh my…" I whisper, unsure of what to do to begin with. However, the only logical thing to do was to help this salamander inside the Inn. I rush over to the poor guy and quickly wrap his arm around my shoulders. "Jim, help me." I say and he does so without argument. He carried the chest in his free arm. The lizard rasped in our ears but I couldn't make out what he was saying.

"Mom's going to love this." Jim said to me as we started making our way to the Inn. The rain then begin to fall on us, quickly drenching us. "Guaranteed. There's no way we'll get in trouble for this." I utter back to him. By the time we got to the door, Delbert proceeded to open the door with his paperwork in his arms. Jim and I stood at the doorway looking into the house with tired looks on our faces. Mom sees us with a large lizard hanging off our shoulders. "James Plaedies Hawkins! Jennifer Sparrow Hawkins!" Mom exclaimed, getting up from the dining area to rush to us. Delbert joined us on the right side being observant.

"Mom, he's hurt!" Jim exclaimed as we set the lizard down on the floor. "He crashed on the deck!" I add, kneeling down to the lizards height. Jim didn't hesitate to join me. "Me chest… lad." he said, stretching his arm to reach the chest. Jim looks over to it and pushes it towards him. Once we got it to him, he begins to press buttons to open it. "He'll be comin' soon." he seethed, taking out a covered sphere, "Can't let him find this!" "Wait, who're you talking about?" I question. The lizard proceeded to quickly grab me by my jacket and he pulls me down to where he was next to my ear. "The cyborg! *gasp* Beware the cyborg!" he rasped in my ear. My skin lost its color and my eyes widened at this. I felt sick…

His grip on me loosened and I pull back with that same look on my face. Jim had the sphere in his hands and we watched at the lizard died in front of us. Jim and I gave each other a concerned look. The color in his face was also drained. He was just as stunned as I was. What did he mean by… beware the cyborg? Then, a sudden white light illuminated into the confined space of the Inn. We all turn and stand at this. Jim carefully walks over to the window and opened the blinds partially to look outside. Then, he quickly rushes away from the window with a look of panic on his face. "Quick, we gotta go!" he cried, quickly grabbing Mom and I by our hands. "What?!" I exclaimed as Jim started pulling us upstairs. The front door was blasted with a large laser, getting Delbert to shout.

"I believe I'm with Jim on this one!" Delbert exclaimed, following us up the stairs. I felt scared by this time because I heard more than one invader in our house. There shadows begin to rise along the walls of the stairs. My heart jumped out of my chest and my teeth gritted tightly. My head twisted around and I saw Mom and Delbert on the window sill. Jim also could see them coming. Delbert started rambling on about something that I didn't care about at this moment in time. We needed to get out of there. Jim and I rush over there to them. "Go!" I shout, pushing them off the window sill. The four of us fall out of the building from the second story window. We all landed in a carriage that had an alien strapped to it. The top popped up to cover us from the rain. I land in between Jim and Delbert.

We begin to move out in a fast manner. The adrenaline that coursed through me weared off and I let my head lean against the back of the carriage and I let my eyes shut for a moment. However, the glow of something made my eyes reopen. It was coming from that sphere that Jim held. I also noticed that it had a weird design on it. What was it about this sphere that that lizard wanted to keep secret?

Minutes roll by and we make it to Delbert's house. Mom was sitting in the living chair that rested in front of the fireplace. It had stopped raining by the time we had got here. Jim found a blanket and covered mom with it. She was genuinely upset about what went down back there.

"I just spoke with the constabulary. Those blaggard pirates vanished without a trace. I'm sorry Sarah. I'm afraid the old Benbow Inn has burned to the ground." Delbert said forlornly. I rubbed the back of my neck and I walked away from her to give her some space. Our home was gone… those pirates burned our house to the ground. My stomach started to twist and I needed a moment to breathe. Our home was gone… I sit on the desk with my hands holding me up. This didn't go unnoticed.

"You okay, Jen?" Jim asks, putting his hand on my shoulder to get my attention. I turn my head and push some of my bangs behind my ear. "Y-Yeah. I'm fine. Just a little shaken up is all." I answer, letting out a sigh, "I no choice but to push you guys out of there. Those pirates were going to…" I said, putting a hand on my forehead. "You had to do what you had to." Jim assured. I sigh again and look back at him. "Yeah… you're right." I said, giving him a smile. He looks at the sphere and picks it up. He tossed it in his hands a couple times before he started pressing the buttons on it. "What do you think that does?" I ask, being observant. It looked like some sort of puzzle of somesort. The sphere made some noises as Jim fiddled with it.

The sphere then did something, getting both Jim and I to jump back a bit. We glance at each other before Jim bites his lower lip. He twisted it about three times before the sphere opened and river of green light suddenly flew out of the open sphere. I raised my hands a bit and my mouth hung open a bit as I kept my eyes locked on where the light was going. It didn't take long until the light turned into a large orbital cage that illuminated the room into a light green color. I kept turning as I looked at the strange cage in awe, taking small steps in the process.

"Why, it's a map!" Delbert said in amazement. He walked by us and looked around. There was little, transparent planets floated around us and Delbert walked up to one of them. "Hold on, this is us! Planet Montressor!" Delbert exclaims, pressing the transparent planet. We gasp loudly as the various particles fly by us with a single gust of wind. I cover my face with both arms for a brief moment before lowering them. "That's the Magellanic Cloud! Whoo! The Coral Galaxy!" Delbert pointed out. There were a few others that he mentioned but I tuned him out. The transition then came to a halt and the room became dark.

There was only one thing that stood out from the darkness. Jumping for joy inside, I knew exactly what that was. A familiar planet with two rings crossing each other made me smile in a giddy way. "Treasure Planet!" I say, feeling so excited about seeing this planet actually existing. Mom had always told Jim and I it was nothing more than just a legend. Jim came to my side with the same smile that I had on my face. "That's Treasure Planet! It's real!" Jim says excitedly. My eyes were locked on the transparent planet. It made me feel like a child again. "Flint's trove? The loot of a thousand worlds? Do you know what this means?" Delbert asks, intrigued. That's an easy question to answer.

"It means that that treasure is only a boat right away." Jim said, tossing the map once in the air. Delbert was saying something but being absent minded most of the time, I tuned him out and was focused on what we could do to help Mom with the Benbow. The lights then turn back on to show that the map closed. That treasure was just enough to get us back on our feet.

"Mom, this is it! This is our answer!" Jim said, putting the map in his coat pocket. Instantly, Mom started disapproving with our full proof plan. "Jim, Jen, there's absolutely no way!" she started, waving her arms to show her disagreement. I put my hands on her shoulders with a smile. "Don't you remember those stories that you told Jim and I when we were kids?" I say, trying my hardest to change her mind. However, she pushes my hands off her shoulders. "That's all they were, Jen. Stories. And nothing more." she said blankly. My smile dropped and I thought I couldn't get through to her.

"But mom, think about it! With just a handle of that treasure, we could build the Benbow over hundred times over!" I urge, putting a hand on my head for a second. How could Mom expect us to change if she won't let us do this. Mom was flabbergasted by my response and she stumbled on her words. "Delbert, can you please tell them how ridiculous this is?" she said. Jim and I sigh at what she said because she was trying to get Delbert on her side of this. That's just dumb. "It's totally preposterous. Going up into space alone." Delbert agreed. "Now at last we have some sense." Mom replied. What Delbert said next made Jim and I smile happily.

"That's why I'm going with you two." he said, picking up a duffle bag. Mom shouted his name in disbelief. He was going with us and that couldn't have made the two of us more happy. We exchange happy glances. My little brother was just as happy about this as I was. "All my life I've been waiting for an opportunity like this and here it is screaming, Go Delbert! Go Delbert!" Delbert chants, doing a little dance to go with it. He had filled his duffle bags with different things that could fit in it. "Okay, all three of you are grounded!" Mom shouted out of frustration, shutting Delbert up. I gaze up at her with a sympathetic look. Even though I'm a person to tune her out half of the time as well as Jim, she was still our mother and it upset me to see her like this.

"Mom, look, I know that Jen and I keep messing things up. But… can't you let this be our chance to make it up to you? Let us set things right." Jim said, trying to convince her to let us go. She turns from us and speaks to Delbert about this. I look down at my feet.

She then walks to us with a saddened look. "Jim… Jen… I don't want to lose you two…" she said, running her fingers through our bangs in a motherly way. I smile and hug her in a caring way. "You won't mom. We'll make you proud." I say, pulling away from her. Jim holds her hands together as she warmly smiles at us. "Yeah, mom. We'll keep our promise to you." Jim assured. The smile she gave us went to show that she approves of us going. "Plus, I gotta keep my eyes peeled on Jim here. Make sure he doesn't get into trouble." I said, grabbing Jim and putting him in a headlock. He yells out and grabs my clothed arms. "You're not getting into trouble too! You better watch yourself." Jim teased, getting himself out of my hold.

I always like putting my brother in a headlock whenever I get the chance. That's how we played together. We share a simple laugh at this. "Well then, we'll make preparations at once. Jim, my boy and Jen, my girl. Soon we'll be off to the spaceport!" Delbert says, standing by the window where the moon was, a.k.a. The spaceport. This adventure would forever change our lives for the better. And it felt amazing.


	5. Chapter 5 Boarding the RLS Legacy

The sun was up high in the sky as the time turned midday. The Spaceport on this day was crowded by all the aliens that were departing. The fact that it was so crowded that neither Jim or I could make out where we were supposed to go. I had my old school bag over my shoulder with my essentials in it hanging over my right shoulder. Jim follows behind me with his old school bag as well.

"Can you actually believe we're going, Jen? I never thought we'd actually do this." Jim said, looking around the spaceport with a smile on his face. "I surely can. Our dreams of going to Treasure Planet is finally being established. I always knew it was a real place and not just some legend." I reply, following him down a flight of stairs. I let out a chuckle at what he says before we reach another opening. In making it to the lower level, it was much crowded than I thought, making me lose my sense of direction.

"Got any idea where we're going? I'm lost." I ask, standing on my toes in an attempt to find somewhere. "Nope. Let's ask someone." Jim suggested. "Hey, Jim, Jen! Wait for me!" Delbert called, coming behind us with clanging metal. When I turned to see what was making it, I almost facepalmed when I saw how big it was. It was three times bigger than he was. "Well, you two. Let this be an opportunity for the three of us to get to know one another. But-" Delbert said tastelessly. "Look let's just find the ship. Okay?" Jim said, walking ahead of us. "Yeah, stop worrying too much." I say, following Jim. I looked back at Delbert for a second to see him dumbfounded glance. He'll get over it.

We spend the next 10 or so minutes finding nothing. We had no choice but to ask someone for directions. Lucky for us, they knew where the ship was. It was necessary because this place was too big for its own good. We thanked the aliens with a two-fingered salute. "They said it was this the right way." Jim said, going off to the right. "He better be right of the direction. I'm tired of looking around and running in circles." I said, following right behind him. I even made an attempt of standing on my toes and shielding my eyes so I could see better.

Behind us, Delbert kept ranting on about how a two headed salesman was being pushy about his outfit. He couldn't find anything to complain about apparently. We needed to find the ship and not waste time of whining about stupid things. After a bit, we ended up finding it by the directions give to us. What was in front of us was the most beautiful galleon ship we've ever seen. It had multiple solar sails that matched the ships exterior.

Our sightseeing was cut off by Delbert bumping into Jim and I, getting us to stumble forward. We look at him with annoyed glances. "Oh! Jim, Jen! This is our ship! The RLS Legacy!" Delbert said, as if he's making a presentation to something. I lifted my head to admire the ship even more. Needless to say, Jim and I resorted back to our childlike minds when we began or descent to the ship. We had always dreamed we'd go on an adventure like this. It was unbelievable that it's actually happening.

"Holy moly! This is awesome!" I exclaim, the smile on my face seeming to get bigger. My heart was beating out of my chest from how excited I was. We walk up on the boardwalk was and we walked up onto the dock. There were various aliens getting this ship prepared for take off. "How cool is this, Jen?" Jim says before I hear him grunting as he bumped into what I can only make out to be one of the crew members. That caught my attention and I quickly turn to see that he stood on that crew member. Jim backed off and held his hands up partly.

"Sorry about that." he apologized. Instead of getting a form of forgiveness from the alien, he ended up getting sass from the farting alien. That offended me and I clenched my fists together. The one thing that no one does when I'm around is never pick on my brother. "Listen, wise guy! He said he was sorry! So leave him alone!" I shout at the alien, standing in between him and Jim. The alien started sassing at me now. It took everything in me not to punch the daylights out of him. The last time that something like this happened, I ended up getting into a fight with another inmate. Let's just say it didn't end well.

"Allow me to handle this." Delbert says. I stand on Jim's right side while holding on to my bag strap. Delbert then tries to communicate with this alien by making the same noises that the alien made. One of my eyebrows furrow at how tastelessly Delbert was doing this. It responded with a hysterical laugh. Boy that was pathetic. "Fluent in Flatula, you two. Took two years of it in high school." Delbert said, giving us a two finger salute before walking off. I couldn't help but smirk at this and I rub the back of my neck. "Huh. Classy." I say. "I couldn't agree more." Jim agreed. After that, we follow where Delbert is. It's kind of weird that Delbert is the only one here wearing a metal suit that was twice as big as he was.

Off to the right, we walk into another alien that I can only consider to be the captain considering he was wearing a red captain's uniform with epaulets and he had a captain's hat on his head. "Good morning captain. Everything ship shape?" Delbert asked. I put both hands in my leather jacket pockets. "Ship shape it is, sir. But I'm not the captain. The captain's aloft." the rock like person said in a deep voice. At this, we all look up at where he said.

Just then, a cat like alien in a blue captain's uniform jump her way down to us. Jim and I trade glances for a moment before looking back at this captain. Even Delbert wasn't expecting that this feline would be captain. "Mr. Arrow, I checked this miserable ship from stem to stern and as usual it's spot on. Can you get nothing wrong?" the feline speaks in a british accent. I just rolled my eyes because I can tell from her posture that she would quickly get on my nerves. "You flatter me, Captain." Mr. Arrow said, taking his hat off respectfully before putting it back on.

She then turns to Delbert with wide eyes. It took everything in me to hold my laughter in when she started messing with him about his suit. I look from them and gaze at the crew that was loading the ship up. Judging by their physical appearance, they didn't look friendly and probably don't like small talk. "I'm Captain Amelia. Late of a few run-ins with the Protean armada. Nasty business but I won't bore you with my scars." the captain introduces, "You met my first officer, Mr. Arrow. Sterling, tough, dependable, brave, and true." I rolled my eyes and glanced at Jim to see he was just as annoyed with her as I was. Well, great minds think alike.

I adjusted my bag on my one shoulder with a single grunt. "I hate to interrupt this lovely banter but may introduce to you Jim and Jen Hawkins. They're the boy & girl who found the treasure-" Delbert starts but Amelia quickly covers his mouth. "Doctor please!" she exclaims, glancing over to the others in a suspicious glance. My eyebrow furrowed at this sudden action. It's as if talking about the map is banned here or something. Maybe it is. "I'd like a word with you in my office if I may." she said in a lowered voice.

Amelia led us to her office and locked the door behind her. I set my bag down by the door. Jim and I stood by the wall that was by the window and I propped my right foot up against the wall and my hands were in my leather jacket. "Doctor, to muse and brag about a treasure map in front of this particular crew… demonstrates a level of ineptitude on the imbecilic and I mean that in a caring way." she scolds, keeping her voice hushed. The way she spoke had me drone out almost completely and I shook my head. Some of her vocabulary isn't setting well with me. It didn't sit well with Delbert either.

"Imbecilic, did you say?! Foolishness, I've-" Delbert spats only to be silenced by Amelia's hand being raised up. "May I see the map?" she asks, holding her hand out to us. Jim takes the map out of his coat pocket and held it in his hand. He glances over to me as if he were unsure about passing it over. I didn't want to hand it over either. But it would seem we didn't have a choice. I did a head motion to let him know to do it. "Here." he said, tossing the map to her. She catches it swiftly in her hand.

She examines to it closely before turning towards a cupboard. "Mr & Ms Hawkins, in the future you will address me as captain or ma'am. Is that clear?" she instructs, her back to us. I roll my eyes and look off to the right. This is the last thing that neither of us wants to do. "Mr and Ms Hawkins?" she repeats, taking a sideways glance at us. I lift my eyes to look at her. "Yes ma'am." Jim said simply, giving a nod. "Yes Captain." I say, also nodding. She then shuts the cupboard and locks it. No one, not even Jim and I have access to it.

Jim and I go over to a weird tool next to the cupboard while being reminded of keeping the map put up when it's not in use. It annoyed me because she believed we'd be irresponsible with it. Well, she's the only one with the key to the cupboard. "This is unbelievable. It was fine with us." Jim said, shrugging his shoulders. "You can say that again. We're not kids anymore..." I groan, letting my head lean against the wall. I close my eyes for a moment.

"Mr. Arrow, please take these three down to the galley. Mr and Ms Hawkins will work for our cook, Mr Silver." Amelia orders, getting Jim and I to jolt up. "Oh wait what?" I question. "You're cook?" Jim added. She can't be serious right? When coming on this trip, I didn't expect work to be added to the mix. Just when I think going to juvy twice was bad enough, they have to bring back those stupid chores. Some of the inmates there even provoked a few fights with me.

Just as he was ordered, we were taken out of Amelia's office and down to where the galley was. "That woman! That feline! Who does she think she is?" Delbert argued, clearly infuriated by what that captain had told us. "It's our map and she's got us bussing tables!" Jim says to Delbert and I. "This is just stupid! Why are we being treated as if we're slaves to her?" I reply, pointing at my chest. This is not what I had in mind when going on this trip. Weren't we supposed to help navigate with this trip? Or are we too ignorant to do it?

"I WON'T TOLERATE ANY CROSSWORD ABOUT OUR CAPTAIN!" Arrow boomed from behind us. He then proceeds to tell us about how she's the finest captain in this galaxy. Somehow I doubted this. It was as if she didn't care why we were really here. There was also the sound of whistling coming from the area. Someone was standing in the kitchen area but due to the smoke I couldn't tell who it was. "Mr. Silver?" Arrow calls. "Why, Mr. Arrow, sir!" that guy greeted lightly, wiping his hands in his apron. "If I knew you'd come to my humble galley, I would've tucked in me shirt." he said gruffly, tucking his apron in his striped pants. He turned around, my heart jumped up in my chest when I saw what the guy looked like when he stepped into the light.

It was a cyborg… "The cyborg…" I quietly gasp, my eyes widening also. It was as if my breath had been sucked right out of my body the minute my eyes set on him. Jim looked over at me and saw how pale I had suddenly become. He soon saw why. He went just as pale as I was. "May I introduce, Dr. Doppler? The financier of our voyage." Arrow introduced. "Love the outfit doc." Silver says, inspecting Delbert's outfit with a laser that was in his robotic eye. "Well, thank you. Love the eye." he compliments as he covered himself. He then decided to push us a bit in Silver's direction. "This here is Jim Hawkins and his sister Jen Hawkins." Delbert said. Despite this, I didn't lower my guard. "Jimbo! Jenny!" the cyborg says to us, switching to his robotic hand. Jim and I knew to keep our guards up. If we were going on this trip, then we had to protect each other.

The cyborg shrugged his shoulders before going back to his station. I cross both of my clothed arms and leaned down to Jim. "Keep your eyes open Jim. This may be the cyborg that lizard mentioned." I whisper. "You don't have to tell me twice." he agreed, keeping his eyes on the cyborg. We watched as he started cooking something. He was pouring weird vegetables in a large pot. Whatever it was didn't look appetizing. He even added some seasoning to it.

He then takes three bowls and pours some of the stew or something over to us. He each handed me a bowl. "Have a taste of my famous bonza beast stew." Silver says. From the looks of it, it was really chunky and not appetizing at all. Normally, I wasn't at all picky of what I eat but this was different. "Delightfully tangy yet robust." Delbert said, tasting it. "Old family recipe." Silver inquired. I look over to see Delbert about to take another taste; only to stop when an eyeball pops out of it. Seeing that made my appetite suddenly vanish. "In fact, that was part of the old family." Silver joked. I just roll my eyes and glance down at the goop that was in my bowl.

"Go on Jimbo have a swing! You too Jenny!" Silver persisted. All I did was lift my eyebrow as Jim picks up the spoon with the stew in it. He looked just as weirded out as I did. The spoon then turns to a pink gooey blob with big eyes; catching Jim and me off guard. We gasp at this and jump back a bit. It then turns to a floating pink blob with possibly the cutest face I've ever seen. "Morph! You little blob of mischief! So that's where you was hiding!" Silver exclaimed as the pink thing turns to a striped straw and sucks the rest of the stew out of both of our bowls. I couldn't help but give a smirk as he chitters in a friendly way and he rubs up against our cheeks.

When he rubs against mine, I scrunch up and chuckle lightly. "What is that thing?" Jim asked, poking it and it turned to mini versions of Jim and I. Of course, my version landed on my right shoulder. It was as if I had a bird on my shoulder. I glanced over at it and take a closer look at it. It made the same expression as I did. "He's a morph. I rescued the little shapeshifter and he took a shine to me." Silver answered as Morph turns back to his blobby form and he flies back to the cyborg. I put my hands on my hips with my thumbs facing forward.

Then, there was a bell ringing above us, getting Jim and I to look up. "We're about to get underway. Dr. Doppler, come & watch the launch." Arrow informs. I nudge Jim to let him know we were leaving. I know he's done being down here as much as I am. Before we could start following them, Arrow puts his hand us to keep the two of us from moving any further. "Mr. and Ms. Hawkins will stay here under your charge, Mr. Silver." Arrow says. This annoyed me because we're old enough to look after ourselves. That's we spent most of our lives ever since our father had left. Heck, we were like that even before that.

That statement made Silver choke on his stew in shock. "I beg your pardon sir but-" Silver started. "Captain's orders! See to it that the new cabin boy and cabin girl are kept busy." Arrow interjects, turning towards the exit and heading upstairs. The three of us begin to protest but it did nothing but ceases to failure. I pinch the bridge of my nose and sigh in defeat. There was no way we'd win this argument. A minute after that, I let go of my nose and rub the back of my neck and under my hair. I then put my hands in my jacket pockets. "So… the captain's left you two with me, eh?" Silver asks, walking back to his station. I roll my eyes and walk to a barrel of purps. I pick two up and toss one to Jim.

"You know, these purps look like the ones back home. On Montresor. You ever heard of it?" Jim murmurs to Silver, going to a part of the table. "Eh, can't say that I have Jimbo." Silver answered, continuing to finish cooking. I lean against the table with my elbows holding me up and examined my purp carefully. "Come to think of it. Before my little brother and I came here, this old guy was telling us about seeing some cyborg buddy of his." I say, taking a bite of the purp. "Is that so?" Silver inquired.

"Yeah. Jen, what did he say his name was?" Jim said, rubbing his forehead against his purp in trying to think. It didn't take me long to think of what his name was. "Wasn't it Billy Bones?" I respond, roping in the answer to that question. "That's it. That's his name." he nodded at me. "Bones? Booones? Hmm, don't ring a bell. Must be a different cyborg since there's a slew of cyborg roamin' these parts." Silver answers, bringing a pot of hot water over to where we were. He's bluffing probably since he's the only cyborg Jim and I have seen. But I won't ask questions about it.

There was a sharp whistle above us, signifying that we'd be leaving at any time. "Alright, go on you two. Watch the launch. There'll be plenty of work for you's afterwards." Silver said, pushing Jim & I towards the doorway. With excitement filling me, I grab Jim's hand and the two of us rush up on the deck. We were going to take off finally!


	6. Chapter 6 Setting Sail

The smile on my face wasn't fading away along with the excitement growing in my chest growing faster than it should have. This didn't go unnoticed. It was easily noticeable and Jim chuckled. "Man… I haven't been this excited since…" I said but lost my train of thought. Luckily, Jim roped in the rest of that. "Since mom had gotten us that lizard like toy that you were wanting so much." Jim replied, giving a smirk. That made me happy to hear that because that was one of the best memories that I could've asked for. "You know me so well, little brother." I say, giving him a playful punch. He knows just how much I wanted that toy.

Now that we were taking off, those exact same feelings I had growing up were all flooding back to me. Once we get on deck, Jim and I see that everyone was scrambling to get to their stations. I looked around and see some of them making their way up the mast to release the sails. When the sails dropped, it's golden hue made it stand out from the rest of the ship. A smile formed on my face because of how great everything looked. Then, I was suddenly forced to take a couple of steps. I turn to see what made me move. It was one of those pirates. When I told them off, they didn't take it too well.

But, I shouldn't let that get in the way of the excitement of the launch. I run to the side of the ship and gazed down at the ground below us. We were beginning to lift up off the ground. There was nothing that could wipe this smile on my face. Neither Jim and I have ever been this excited since we rode our solar surfers together. Then, I feel myself start to lift up off the deck. Jim also started to float also. It was the gravity; it was turned off.

Amelia gave the order to have it turned off so we wouldn't float away. I landed on my feet gently. Wanting to get a better view of the launch, I pull Jim back to the bow. We were ready to take off. I looked around at the view below. It was getting smaller and smaller the more we lifted up.

Before we knew it, the ship speeds away from the spaceport in the speed of light. It made my stomach drop at the speed but I quickly brushed it off. To my right, I see a tight rafter tied to the side of the ship. "Jim! Over there!" I say excitedly. He is right on my heels and we both climb up on it. We keep climbing until we make it halfway.

Montressor Spaceport was becoming smaller and smaller in frame the further we went into space. I coil my fingers around the net and use my other hand to shield my face. My excitement grew because the two of us see a gang of flying space whales fly by us in their casual state. The cool wind blew my hair every which way.

"Whoa!" Jim exclaimed excitedly, his eyes widening. "This is so cool!" I laugh. I was so intrigued into it that I didn't hear what was going back in the background. That was until the sound of Silver calling us brought me out of it. "Jimbo! Jenny!" Silver shouted, getting the two of us to turn around. Jim and I give each other a quick glance before looking at Silver. He had his hands behind his back which meant that could only mean one thing for us. "I got some friends I want you two to meet." Silver said. We leaned in closely before he throws us each a mop and a bucket. "Yippee…" Jim said sarcastically and the tone in his voice was filled with disappointment. All I did was sigh in disappointment because I kind of figured that this is what was going to happen.

I was mopping just a few feet away from Jim, quietly mumbling to myself. I was finding this completely unfair and it was as if nothing had changed between here and cleaning the Benbow Inn. Knowing Jim, he didn't exactly favor it either. Neither of us suspected to clean the deck while the others did absolutely nothing to benefit it. Then, I feel someone shove me aside with a hard shove. Instantly, I jump up and clench my fists, ready to fight whoever shoved me. "You got a problem?!" I shout, clearly offended. Turns out it was a giant, four-armed alien who shoved me.

He turns to me and gives me an evil, ugly stare with his fists clenched. "Watch it, missy." he threatened in a deep voice. For a moment, I just stood there with my mop laying beside me. There was no way I'd be able to fight that alien because of his size. I've gotten into fights before but I had no choice but to stay out of the way.

Just before I could get back to what I was doing, I hear something coming from my right. "Maybe your ears don't work so well." an unfamiliar yet creepy voice caught my attention. When I looked over, I see that Jim was being held up by his shirt collar about 5 feet off the ground by a large spider crab thing with yellow big eyes. Seeing this triggered my protective instincts and I charge after the large bug with my fists raised. "Let go of him!" I shout, lifting up my fist. The bug thing turns to look at me and ends up using his other claw like hand to grab me by neck. With the tightness of his grip, he growls at me. "Cabin girl, stay out of this." he hissed before tossing me aside against the wall of the deck.

I coughed and gagged from how tight it was. "I won't let you hurt my brother! Stay away from him!" I cough, on my hands and knees. That creep isn't going to hurt my brother. As his sister, it's my job to keep him safe. Before I could get up again, I see Silver suddenly take a hold of that bugs arm with a long coat and pirates hat. "Mr. Scroop. Have you ever seen a fresh purp when you squeeze real hard?" Silver asks, using his forcep hand to squeeze down on that bugs arm to make him let go of Jim.

The second Jim hit the floor, I make my way over to him. "Jim, you okay?" I ask, helping him stand up by taking his hand. He dusts himself off. "Yeah. What about you?" Jim asked, putting his hands in his coat pockets. "Good too. My neck hurts though." I answer, rubbing my neck, "So what'd that freak want with you?" I ask him. There had to be a reason that Jim was attacked by that bug.

"He thought that I was butting into other people's business." Jim answers, obviously irritated by that. "That's stupid. Knowing you, you're not one to do that stuff." I say, hands in my pockets. "Yeah. Thanks for trying to help me." Jim said with a smirk. I grin back and ruffle his hair playfully. "That creep should know better than to mess with my brother." I chuckle. He pulls back from me and laughs too. I love messing with him.

"Jimbo! Jenny! I gave you two a job!" Silver scolds, holding one of the mops. We look at him with disgusted glances. He shouldn't be blaming us for this mess. It wasn't our fault. "Hey, don't blame us! It wasn't our fault!" I argued. "Yeah, we were doing it until that bug thing-" Jim said but Silver interrupted us by getting in our faces. "Belay that!" he shouted, shoving the mops in our faces. "Now, I want this deck swapped spotless. Heaven help you two if I come back and it's not done- Morph, keep an eye on these pups. Let me know if there are any distractions." Silver directs, walking away from us. All I did was rub my eyes.

"Great, we're under surveillance. This day just gets better and better." I say sarcastically. "You're telling me." Jim sighed, just as unamused as I am. Why didn't Silver understand that we were trying to get out of the grasp of that creepy bug? I was only defending Jim while he was being held up. "He shouldn't be the boss of us, Jim. Didn't we come on this ship to find Treasure Planet?" I ask, giving him a sideways glance while continuing to my work. "Yeah we did. How did we get ourselves roped up into this?" Jim asked, obviously irritated. "Who knows?" I say with a sigh. And with that, we go about our work.

It was starting to turn evening by the time we got through. The sky had gone from a dull grey to a pretty dark purple and red mix. We got so caught up in what we were doing that I didn't see Morph giving both Jim and I a shoe shine. His shrill cute giggling brought me out of it. I use the mop as an arm rest and let out a sigh of relief. Jim leaned against the mop too with a hand on his hip. "Well, it's safe to say that this day has been super eventful. With making new friends, like that spider psycho." I say sarcastically. My fingers do a spider like motion.

Morph then turns into a smaller version of the spider psycho. "Spider psycho! Spider psycho!" the blob says in a high pitched voice. I chuckle at this. "Wasn't he a bit uglier?" Jim pointed out. Morph than turns into an uglier version of that bug with a high pitched maniacal laugh. "Hmm, pretty close I'd say." I chuckle. Our moment was sorely interrupted by the presence of Silver.

"Well, thank heavens for little miracles." Silver says, bringing up a large pot of wasted food in his kitchen outfit. "Up here for an hour and the deck's still in one piece." he said, dumping the pot over the deck. I just sigh and look away from him for a moment. Giving him a crooked grin. "Hey, with what happened today… Thanks." Jim says with a grin. "Yeah. Didn't have time to do that." I agree. This ended up begging the question for Silver.

"Didn't ya'lls pap ever teach you both on how to pick your fights carefully?" the cyborg asks, showing empathy towards us. That question about our father made me tense up and my fingers wrapped around the mop tightly. Talking about that deadbeat made my blood boil. I hate talking about him. "No. He's the running away and never coming back type." Jim said with resentment. His voice was saying how much he's hurting from our father abandoning us.

Silver sighed in empathy. He now knows why Jim and I are rebellious. "Oh… Sorry lad and lass." he said, leaning on the edge. All I did was shrug my shoulders. "Eh, it's no big deal. Everything's been better without him. We're doing fine." I said, summing it up for the both of us. He stopped being our dad when he stepped foot on that ship. "Is that so? Well, since the captain has put both of ya's under my charge like it or not, I'll be pounding a few skills into those thick heads of ya's to keep you two out of trouble." Silver says, poking Jim and I on the foreheads, making me mad. Before we could protest, he began to speak again, "From now on, youtwo aren't leaving my eyesight." Hearing that made me grit my teeth.

We're now under surveillance 24/7? Why doesn't he just put me out of my misery? "You won't so much as eat, sleep, or scratch your bums without my say so!" he directs, pounding his metal fist on the side of the ship. "Don't do us any favors then!" Jim shouts, annoyed. "Oh you can be sure of that you two. You can be sure of that."


	7. Chapter 7 Nightmare

A few months pass by since Silvers declarence to Jim and I. We barely had time to take a breather since then. He was getting under our skin with how much work he's giving us.

When I went to bed after a long day of doing silvers dirty work, I never thought a nightmare would follow suit. It started with Jim and I being kids again before mom turned our house to a restaurant.

Most of the images I saw was of dad which was the worst. It went from him not giving Jim and I the attention we needed, to him leaving us for good. I remember crying for him to come back but he only turned a blind eye. Jim was just as hysterical as me at this. He left us with nothing but our broken hearts and shattered innocence that he took with him.

"Jen wake up! Wake up!" Jim called. I jump awake and end up falling off the hammock I slept in. "Whoa calm down. What happened?" Jim asked. I get to my feet and pick up my coat.

"Just a bad dream. It's nothing to worry about." I say, obviously lying. I brushed myself down and go to pick up my jacket. "Was it about… you know?" Jim said, seeing through my lie. "How'd you know?" I say, putting my coat on. "Don't you think I know my own sister? I know when you're lying." he points out. I roll my eyes in defeat. "Yeah. Yeah it was." I say, my voice breaking. He then goes to hug me which I accept.

After a bit, we break the hug. "Okay, so what is Silver wanting us to do this time? I'm pretty sure that we've done everything on this ship twice if not three times already." I ask. "He said he needs help with one of the long boats. Said we'd take it out to follow the star." Jim answered, a pang of excitement dripping from his voice.

Just hearing that made my stomach flutter with pure excitement. We were finally gonna get to do something that's worth being on this ship other than work. Without another word, we bolt down to the long boat compartment.

The cyborg had us untie the ropes that held the boat in place. Once it was over, Silver hops in and opens the compartment doors. Our smiles faded when he takes off without us. I thought he wasn't going to bring us with him. However, that changed when he pulls back up under the open doors.

The smiles stretched on our faces as we slowly realized he was taking us after all. "Hop in you two!" Silver called, waving us down. And we did just that.

I sit on the right side of the longboat while Jim sat beside the controls and Silver was beside him. He was telling us how to control the longboat. But since looked similar to our solar surfers, we had no issues with getting this thing in gear.

Jim pressed a few buttons and got the boat to speed off towards the star, much to the shock of Silver. The wind blew through my hair and it made me feel so good.

We go into the star while Jim made us vigorously spin in circles, making Silver pretty dizzy. After that, we ride into space at top speed. This was the most exciting thing Jim and I have done since going on this ship.


	8. Chapter 8 Super Nova

The evening was cool and quiet when we arrived back to the ship. That same smile still was plastered onto my freckled face from all of the excitement that we endured. I don't think that anything could top that. I don't think I've had that much fun exploring space since… who knows how long.

I jumped up to grab a rope so we could pull the long boat up into the ship. We all started to laugh genuinely as we pulled it up. Getting to the top, the long boat slid downwards a bit. "You having trouble there?" Jim said in a joking tone. "Oh get away from me." Silver chuckled. We all tie off the long boat to its hooks as tight as we could. Once it was finished, I took a lounging seat inside the boat, putting my arms behind my head. "There. That should hold." I sigh, pleased with our work.

"Oh Jimbo and Jenny. If I could maneuver a skiff like that when I was yall's age… they'd be bowing the streets when I walked by today." Silver sighs, sitting on the other side of the longboat. "I don't know. They weren't exactly singing our praises when Jen and I had left Montressor." Jim states, leaning forwards with one arm on his knee. "Heh, I couldn't agree more. But, there's no doubt in our minds that we're gonna change that." I say, leaning back. Silver gives us a furrowed eyebrow.

"Is that so?" Silver grunted. "Yep, those people are gonna see us in a different light." I say, fixing my ponytail. Jim agrees with me because he too believes that changing our ways and making something out of ourselves would definitely have them see us way different. "Sometimes things don't always go as planned." Silver mentions. All I did was close my eyes and feel myself relax. "Not this time." Jim happily sighs.

We came on this expedition to make mom proud. I've come to realize how much we seemed to not only stress her out but how much we possibly disappointed her. With me going to juvy twice in my life and getting into fights both times only decreased the potential I had. Luckily for Jim, he didn't have to go but we were both close to going.

The sound of Silver moving his metal leg brought us out of our thinking. I opened my eyes to look and see he was having trouble tightening a screw that connected his knee. Morph saw the struggle and instantly turned into a wrench. "Oh, thank you Morph." Silver sighs, taking morph and he began tightening down the screw to his leg.

"So… how did that happen anyway?" I ask, a sympathetic look in my eyes. This causes Silver to look down at his robotic hand with melancholy. "You give up a few things… chasing a dream." the cyborg said forlornly. "Was it worth it?" Jim wondered, his hand on his arm. Silver brightens up some before coming to our side. "I'm hoping so Jimbo. I'm most surely am." he answered, tilting his hat down over his eyes as if he were gonna go to sleep.

Suddenly, the ship gave a violent shake. It made me fall over to my side. "What in the world was that?!" Jim asks in panic, helping me sit back up. We all ran as fast as we could to get to the deck. When we made it, I was instantly blown back a bit due to the strong wind gust. "Good heavens! The star Pelusa!" Delbert exclaims, taking out his telescope. "It's gone! Supernova!" "Evasive action, Mr. Turnbuckle!" Amelia orders, running up a flight of stairs. The alien does what he's asked and we take off towards the right.

"All hands fasten your lifelines!" Mr. Arrow orders. "C'mon, you two!" Silver shouts for us. We immediately ran to the large mast where the lifelines were. I tighten the lifeline tightly around my waist as that supernova starts to close in on us with terrifying speed. Jim and I make it to the front mast. "Jim! Take care of that front sail! I'll take care of this one!" I shout to my brother to which he nods. I stood up so I could reach the front sail to close it. While doing so, I prayed that neither of us would fall off.

The atmosphere's strong waves were making it difficult to keep my eyes open. We did manage to tie it down. Suddenly, a strike of lightning hits Silver, causing him to fall off. "Silver!" Jim and I shout. The two of us grab the rope and we hoist him back up onto the mast. "Thanks lad and lass." he said, giving a sigh of relief.

After the solar sails were tied down, we all noticed that the nova had gotten too close for comfort. A chill ran down my spine when I saw it as neither Jim nor I had ever seen anything like this before in our lives. Then a bright light shone for a split second, getting us to cover our eyes from the extreme brightness. It ended and we uncovered our faces. The star wasn't there anymore… to our horror, it was nothing more than a hellish black hole.

Nothing is more terrifying than a black hole because it always meant certain death for anyone who dares to enter it.

Afterwards, Jim and I hop down from the mast. "You two! Make sure that the life lines are secured well and tight!" Amelia ordered as she tried holding the steering wheel. "Aye-Aye captain!" Jim says. "You got it!" I yell, going to the lifelines. "You get that side and I'll get these over here!" I shout over the roaring winds. "Okay." Jim nods. I run to the other side of the lifelines and begin to tighten them down. Once finished, we called up to the captain that we had done our job. She praised us.

Jim and I make it back up to Silver. The closer we got to the black hole, the more my blood turned to ice from the intense fear I was feeling just then. "Captain! The last wave! Here it comes!" Delbert shouted to the captain. "Hold onto your lifelines! It's gonna be a bumpy ride!" Amelia orders. The only thing we could do at that moment in time was to hold onto the mast with our dear lives and pray we didn't get ourselves sucked up into it. I closed my eyes tightly and saw that it was getting darker and darker with each passing second. Every fiber of my being was fearing the absolute worst.

But, my fears were put to rest when we were suddenly blasted out of the black hole with a strong wave. It gave the sails enough power to fly us out of there. Opening my eyes, I saw that everyone was cheering with excitement that we were safe. I sighed with relief that we didn't die in that black hole. "Jim, are you okay?" I say, looking at my brother. "Yeah. Still in one piece. You?" he replied. I examine my bare arms over and under. "Yep. Still intact." I reply.

Silver, Jim, and I climb down to the deck as everyone settled down. Amelia was descending the stairs to the first deck. "Well, Mr. Silver. I must say that I'm impressed with your cabin boy and girl. They did a bang up job with those lifelines." Amelia praised with a smile on her face. Silver, Jim, and I gave each other a sock to the shoulder with a laugh. It surely felt good to do something right for once. Or so I thought.

"All hands accounted for, Mr. Arrow?" Amelia asked but was only met by silence. "Mr. Arrow?" she said again. Scroop then comes in between the crowd with Mr. Arrow's hat. "I'm afraid… Mr. Arrow has been lost." Scroop sadly states, giving a distraught Amelia the hat. My heart dropped through the floor when he said that. There's no way that he could've died in that. "His lifeline wasn't secured." Scroop says. At this, Amelia gives both Jim and I a glare that looked like she hated us with every fiber of her being.

"What? No! We checked them all!" Jim said, running through two alien crew. I follow him and push them out of the way. My skin ran cold when I saw that there was a lifeline missing from the mast. "We did.. We checked them all. It was secure. We swear! Everything was tied down!" I say in my defense. But we got no response, only a death glare from the captain. She pierced through my soul with that glare.

Having her look at us the way she did made me feel worse than I was already feeling. Tears flooded my eyes and I ran from the group with Jim behind me. Mr. Arrow had died… because of us. We had made sure that the lifelines were secure well and tight. But now… we have blood on our hands.


	9. Chapter 9 Makings of Greatness

Jim and I sit alongside the walls of the ship, drowning in our own sorrow. The guilt of Mr. Arrow's death weighed heavily on our shoulders and I couldn't stand it. The salty tears stained my freckled cheeks profusely from that heavy guilt. I sat on the side of the ship with my arm looped around the net and let my head droop against the hard rope with my coat on. Jim was above me and was sitting on the net. We had believed that we could finally do something right to make mom proud but… we failed her. Again.

"It wasn't yall's fault, you know." Silver said from behind us. I gritted my teeth and closed my eyes in anger. I didn't want to hear anything about what happened back there. "Why, half the crew would be spinning in that black abyss-" Silver continues but was coldly interrupted by me. "Shut up, Silver!" I growl, turning ground to get on the ship again. "Don't you get it?!" Jim shouted, walking up to Silver. I follow him closely.

"Can't you see that we screwed up?! We thought we could do something right for once but… ARGH!" I yell in frustration, grabbing my hair in the process. My stomach twisted heavily and I felt more tears of mixed anger and guilt run down my face. Jim and I walk to the large mast with our heads hanging down. "Just… Just leave us alone and forget about it." Jim said, starting to cry.

"Now you listen here Jim and Jen Hawkins." Silver said, grabbing us by our shoulders. I took a second to look at him because I didn't want him to see the tears on my face. "You both have the making of greatness in you. But you both gotta take the helm and chart your own course. Stick to it, no matter the squalls… and when the time comes you get the chance to really test the cut of your sails and show what you're made of, well, I hope I'm there. Catching some of the light coming off ya'll that day." he preaches. The tears from my eyes were unstoppable now.

With my lip trembling, I let my head lean against the cyborgs belly and started to cry softly. Jim does the same and I could hear him quietly crying too. "Hey, it's alright Jimbo and Jenny. It's alright." he says, giving us a comforting hug for a moment. He then pushes the two of us back up. "Now, look. I best be getting back to my watch. And you two best be getting some shut eye." Silver says, sending us back to the cabins. I use the sleeve to my coat to wipe away the rest of my tears. Afterwards, the two of us give the cyborg a gentle grin. Knowing he doesn't blame us for what happened earlier made us feel better. So much better.


	10. Chapter 10 Pirates

I had gone to sleep without any nightmares this time. The speech that Silver presented to Jim and I kept them at bay. Deep down, I was grateful that he isn't putting the blame on Jim and I. It was a wonderful feeling to be honest.

Since Jim had taken the hammock this time and I slept below him on the floor. I didn't mind it honestly. I could use my jacket as a pillow. I'm used to sleeping on a floor so it's no issue for me.

Suddenly, the entire weight of Jim came crashing down onto my tired body. I loudly grunted from the sudden pain. "Ow! Ugh… What's the big idea?" I groan tiredly, pushing Jim off of me. "I don't want to talk about it." he sighs, drowsily putting on one of his boots.

With my eyes shut, I grabbed my right boot and slipped it on my foot. I tried to grab my other boot but through my sleepy stupor, I see it bouncing away from me. I see Jim's boot hop away from us. Both boots landed in a pile of boxes that was across the room. We both know exactly who did that.

"Ugh… Really, Morph?" I sigh, pushing myself up to get my boot. I help Jim up to his feet. I stretch and pull my hair back to it's natural ponytail, my bangs hanging on the sides of my hot cheeks. I wasn't in the mood for horseplaying this morning.

"Morph, knock it off. It's too early for this." Jim says, falling to his knees. He leaned over the boxes and tried to find his boot. I found mine and slipped it on. Then, the two of us feel something heavily kick us in the butts, knocking us over.

"Ow! Hey, Morph!" Jim exclaimed, snapping fully awake. I turn around to see the little pink blob laughing at us. Morph then grabs Jim's real boot and starts to carry it out of the ship's bunkers.

"After that little blob!" I shout, running after him. Jim quickly follows me, having only one boot on. "Get back here!" We both shout and Morph repeats what we say.

We chased Morph onto the deck of the ship. "Over there!" I laughed and made a jump for it. I grabbed Jim's boot and fell chest first onto the deck. "Thanks." Jim says. I gave him his boot and we looked to where Morph went into.

He was in the trap door to the cooks area. We waited until the little blob showed himself. "We know you're in there, Morph. No sense in hiding." I say in a playful manner, my arms crossed. Morph then comes out and squirts water in both of our faces. "That's it, you little squid!" Jim said, trying to grab Morph.

We start to grab him but the little blob turns into tiny replicas of Jim and I while repeating 'little squid'. Jim used his boot to hit the trap door. Soon enough, Morph just disappeared into the cooking area.

I open the trap door and we start making our way downstairs. Jim slips on his boot while we come downstairs. It was empty and somewhat dark in there. "Where do you think he could be?" I ask, looking around. Jim then hits my chest with his hand to get my attention. "I think I have an idea." Jim says, walking towards the purp barrel.

The two of us look inside the barrel. And sure enough, Morph gave himself away by looking up at us. He was disguised as one of the purps in an attempt to hide from us. "Hah! Busted!" Jim exclaims, jumping in the barrel. "We've got you now!" I say, jumping in with him. We landed on top of the purps while trying to catch him.

Jim did catch Morph and started to gently tickle the little cute blob. A voice then makes me become alert. It made the playful side of me fade away as if it wasn't there at all. Jim hears it too and looks at me. The two of us peek out of two holes that were big enough for us to look through.

"Look. What we're saying is we're sick of all this waiting. There's only three of them left." An alien said in a hushed voice. "We are wanting to move!" a fat alien with horns said urgently.

In shock, I see Silver approach that alien. "We don't move until we got the treasure," he orders. "I say we kill 'em all now." Scroop suggests, only to get grabbed by his nose by Silver. "I say what's to say! Disobey my orders again like that stunt you pulled with Mr. Arrow and so help me, you'll be joining him!" Silver scolds, throwing Scroop at the barrel that Jim and I were in.

Shock overwhelmed my body for a moment. Scroop was the one who killed Mr. Arrow and put the blame on Jim and I? I should've known. The impact of that spider freak hitting the barrel made Jim and I fall back a bit. Jim let go of Morph due to the impact but I ended up catching him.

I continue to look out of the barrel through that hole. "Strong talk. But I know otherwise." Scroop says, reaching down into the barrel. My heart stopped beating for a moment because I thought we'd be caught. He seemed to be trying to get one of the purps so I signaled to Jim to give a purp to him.

With wide eyes, he grabs one and gives it to Scroop. "You got something to say, Scroop?" Silver questions. "It's that boy and girl." Scroop answers sinisterly, "Me thinks you have a soft spot for them." Silver's eyes raise for a moment. But they quickly became serious.

"Now, mark me, the lot of ya. I care about one thing, and one thing only! Flint's trove! You think I'd risk it all for some, nose-wiping little whelps?" Silver angrily says.

At that moment, I felt my stomach turn. My eyes widened in shock and I couldn't catch my breath. Jim had the same reaction as me. I felt as though I was going to be sick.

"I cozied up to those kids to keep them off our scent. But I ain't gone soft." Silver tells the crew, making Jim and I feel even worse. With the sickness I felt, anger was mixed in it. We couldn't believe our ears.

I looked over at Jim. He was just as distraught as I was. Hearing what Silver said only reminded us of Dad. We thought he had cared for us but he hid his true colors.

Without wasting another minute, I step out of the purp barrel with Jim behind me. A single tear escapes my right eye and I quickly wipe it away. Words couldn't express just how hurt those words made us feel.

If there were pirates on this ship, we had to tell Amelia. She had to know of this. "Jim, we gotta tell Amelia." I tell him, feeling my heart pounding in my chest. "Right, come on." Jim replied. We began to run to the doorway.

Just as we get to the stairs, we see Silver standing at the top of them. My eyes widen when I see him. "Jimbo? Jen?" Silver says in surprise and looks around for a minute. He then starts to come toward Jim and I.

"Playing games, are we?" Silver asks us. Jim and I started to back up while giving him an angered glance. "Yeah. Yeah, we're playing games." I replied to him. We bump into a table and hold ourselves up on it. After what we just heard, I felt unsafe with Silver around and wanted to get away from him.

"Oh, I see. I was never good at games." Silver said, tucking his metal arm behind him. At the same time, I could see a screwdriver sitting on the table we were beside. I give Jim a signal to let him know to grab it.

He catches this and does so. I see him gripping it tightly in his hand. "Always hated to lose." Silver tells us in a sickly, sweet tone. It had me on edge.

"Yeah. We, too!" Jim shouts. He drove the screwdriver into Silver's metal leg as deep as he could get it. As Silver screamed from the pain, Jim and I bolted out of there as fast as we could. We sprint into Amelia's room, catching her by surprise.

Jim quickly shuts the door and locks it behind us. Amelia stands up at our surprise visit. "Mr. and Ms. Hawkins?! What is the meaning of this?!" she demanded. "Silver is that pirate captain! Him and his whole crew is here on this ship!" I say in a panic.

The minute the word 'pirate' escapes my lips, she instantly becomes alert. "Pirates on my ship? I'll see that they all hang!" she says, running to the cabinet where she kept the map. She pulls out a laser gun and loads it.

She throws Delbert one of those guns. "Doctor, familiar with these?" she asks him. Delbert fiddles around with it and holds it with only two fingers. "Maybe, I've seen that-" he starts. The gun accidentally fires and strikes one of the statues, blowing it to smithereens.

"Uh, no. No I'm not." Delbert says in embarrassment. Amelia takes the map out of the cabinet. "You two, defend this with your lives!" Amelia orders, tossing the map to us. I end up catching it with both hands.

But Morph suddenly grabs it before I could put it in my pocket. "Morph! Give us that!" Jim yelled, getting the map away from Morph. With a quick look, I see the door starting to turn bright orange. The pirates were trying to break in here by melting the doors.

"C'mon, we gotta get out of here!" I shout, taking the gun from Delbert. I quickly shot into the floor because that was our only way to escape. Nobody questioned my actions.

We all jumped through the hole in the floor just before those pirates could break through the door. The four of us sprint through the inside of the ship. My heart was beating out of my chest with sheer panic.

The pirates were right behind us and they were coming at a fast pace. Sounds like Silver sent all of his crew down after us. We make it to the Longboat Chamber and Amelia seals the door shut with her laser gun. "To the long boats, quickly!" Amelia orders, running to the longboats.

Jim and I make it to the long boat and quickly jump inside it. Then, I see Morph grab the map out of Jim's pocket. "Morph! No!" Jim yells, trying to grab the map from him. I too try to grab it however, I almost fall out of the longboat in doing so.

We jumped out of the longboat and took our direction to catch Morph. We tried catching him but the little blob was too fast for us.

"Morph! Give that to us! Morph!" I shout, still trying to grab it from him. We ran to the other side of the longboat that we'd be using. "Morph, here, Morph!" Jim yells. Then, Silver comes from the adjacent end of us so that Morph was caught in between Jim, I, and Silver.

We couldn't let Morph go to Silver with the map. "Morphy, come here." Silver whistles. Morph looked at Silver for a minute. "Morph, bring it here. Morph, come here." Jim said, stretching his arms out towards him.

"Come here, boy, Morph." I say, doing what I can to get the blob to come over to Jim and I. However, with all three of us baiting Morph all at once, he didn't know what to do. All he did was dive into a pile of rope.

Silver limps his way over to the rope pile to get the map. However, Jim quickly grabs it before Silver could. The two of us look at the cyborg for a moment before bolting back over to the long boat.

The longboat was already halfway out of the ship before we could jump onto it. I made it on while Jim was hanging off of the side, struggling to get on. Without hesitation, Delbert and I turn to Jim and quickly pull him inside.

"Parameters met. Hydraulics engaged." Amelia says, powering up the longboat. We flew for a good few minutes. "Captain! Laser ball at 12 o'clock!" Delbert exclaims, ducking out of the way. I quickly look up to see a giant laser ball come towards us.

It struck the end of the longboat with a hard hit. "Agh!" I cry out, falling forward. I feel a great pain in my forearm because of the strong impact. The impact had taken out the entire back of the long boat, killing the hydraulics in the process.

We all crashed through trees as we started to crash down. Amelia tried her hardest to render control of the longboat but the damage had been done. Soon enough, we ended up flipping over completely and we slid on the ground for a couple of seconds.

Jim pushes the now damaged longboat out from over us. "Ow…" he says, rubbing the back of his neck. I push myself up to my feet, holding my hurt arm in the process. "Ow…" I say, feeling my arm throb. It was hurting a bit worse than when that laser ball struck us.

"You okay, Jen?" Jim asks, noticing the massive bruising on my left arm. "Yeah, I'm fine. It's only my arm." I answer, still holding it. He comes over to me and inspects it. "It's not broken, is it?" he asks me in concern. "I don't think so. It still hurts though." I answer, wincing at him touching it.

"Enough about me, are you okay?" I ask in concern. "Yeah, I'm good." he tells me, rubbing the back of his neck. I stretch out my bruised arm and try to shake the pain off.

"Oh my goodness. That was more fun than I want to have." Delbert sighs, standing up as well. Amelia chuckles and says, "That's not one of my… gossamer landings. Unh!" She grabs her side and falls to her knees in pain. "Captain!" Delbert says, helping her stand back up. Jim and I help her also.

"Are you alright, Captain?" I ask. "Oh, don't fuss. It's only a slight bruising. That's all. Cup of tea and I'll be right as rain." she assures us, pushing back her hair. In a daze, she looks over to Delbert, mistaking it for Jim.

"You two, the map if you please." she asks, holding her hand out. Jim pulls the map out of his pocket. We sigh out of relief that it was still there. It didn't last long though.

The map floats out of Jim's hand. We were both shocked to see that it was Morph taking the shape of the map. He laughed at us when he took his normal pink, blobby shape. "Morph?! Where's the map?!" I cry out, feeling dread wash over me.

Morph turns into that rope pile and the map in order to answer us. "Are you serious?! It's back on the ship?!" Jim exclaims, pointing up at the sky. "What are we gonna do?" I say, feeling myself start to panic yet again.

"You can start by stifling that pink blob and getting low." Amelia orders, her voice hushed. We all hear the sound of an engine whining from above us. "We've got company." she whispers, taking a laser gun and hiding behind the damaged longboat.

"We need a more defensible position. You two, scout ahead." Amelia says, handing each of us a laser gun. "Aye, Captain." Jim says, holding the gun in his hands. "Jim, stay close. There could be pirates down here." I tell him, walking ahead of him. "You got it." he says, following my lead.


	11. Chapter 11 Meeting BEN

The two of us along with Morph walk down into a deeper part of this unfamiliar place we were in. All we could hear was Morph chattering behind us and the wind softly blowing. Being here made me feel a little anxious but I had to keep my guard up.

We then came to a weird tube like forest that was bunched up together. Neither one of us could see hardly. Suddenly, I hear a rattling sound coming from my right. "Jim? Did you hear that?" I quietly ask. "Yeah, I did. I came from over there." he whispers. As cautiously as possible, we tip toe over to a bush.

I peek over the bush, gun in hand and ready to use. It was quiet for a minute. Too quiet in fact. All of a sudden, the form of a rusted bronze robot with green pixelated eyes screamed in our faces. "Aah!" Jim and I screamed in full voice.

The robot tackles me to the ground, his hands on my shoulders. "Oh, this is fantastic! Two carbon-based life forms come to rescue me at last!" the robot says with too much joy in his voice. "Hey, get off of her!" Jim shouts, trying to pry the robot off of me.

"I just want to hug and squeeze you both!" the robot exclaims, jumping onto Jim like a spider. I scramble to my feet. "Would you let go of me?!" Jim shouted, pushing the robot off him. The robot then takes a jump at me, wrapping his arms and legs around my body. "Would you knock it off?" I say irritated.

The robot finally gets the message and calmly gets off of me. I brush myself down from the ground. "Oh, sorry, sorry, sorry. I've been marooned here for so long. I mean solitude's fine. Don't get me wrong. But after being out here for 100 years, you go a little nuts!" he rambled, wrapping his metal arms around our shoulders.

Seeing our weirded out reactions, the robot unwraps his metal arms from our shoulders. "Oh, I'm sorry. Am I…" the robot stutters, stepping back from us. "I am… uh… My name is… uh…" the robot continues to stutter.

Jim and I glance at one another with our eyebrow furrowed. We were thinking the same thing. This robot was as nuts as he says he is. Morph thought so too because he shapeshifts into the robot with a cuckoo bird popping out of his head.

Jim uses his hand to shut the lid; getting Morph to turn back to his blob form. "B.E.N.! Of course, I'm B.E.N. Bioelectric Navigator." B.E.N. says with enthusiasm. This robot was already starting to get on my nerves. "And you two are?" B.E.N. asks.

"Jim and Jen." Jim introduces both of us. B.E.N. grabs our hands and roughly shakes them. "Oh, what a pleasure to meet you Jimmy and Jenny!" he says. "It's just Jim and Jen. Okay, look. We don't have time for small talk. We're in a hurry. We gotta find a place to hide from those pirates." I tell the robot. We push the robot's hands away from us.

Jim and I start walking away from the nutty robot. "Oh, pirates! Don't even get me started on pirates! I don't like them!" B.E.N. exclaims, "I remember Captain Flint. This guy had such a temper." The name caught Jim and I's attention quickly. For a second, we look at each other before looking back at the robot.

"Wait, you knew Captain Flint?" Jim asks, his eyebrows raised. We go back over to the robot, who was sitting down on a moss covered rock. "I think he suffered from mood swings, personally. I'm not a therapist, and anyway… but let me know when I'm rambling on." B.E.N. continued, leaning back with his metal arms holding his head up.

I looked at the robot for a minute. If he knew about Captain Flint, then there's gotta be more to him than meets the eye. "Well, if you knew him, then you gotta know about the treasure?" I ask, leaning down a bit. "Treasure? What treasure?" B.E.N. asks, confused.

"You know. The loot of a thousand worlds? Flint's Trove? Do you know what we're talking about?" Jim points out, doing hand motions along with Morph turning to a box of treasure for a minute.

"It's-well… it's all a little- little- little fuzzy." B.E.N. says, starting to spark a bit, "Wait. I-I r-r-remember. I do. I- treasure! Lots of treasure! Buried in the centroid-centroid of the mechanism!" Jim and I both jump back at B.E.N. starting to glitch out. We look at each other for a second. He carried the same expression as I had. Shock and slight confusion.

"And there's this big door opening and closing… opening and closing." B.E.N. continues, his voice starting to distort, "Captain Flint wanted to make sure that… nobody could ever get to his treasure so… so I helped him…" Ben then starts to massively glitch out, sputtering his words.

"B.E.N.? B.E.N.?" Jim says. "B.E.N.!" we both shout. Jim slapped the robot across the face as hard as he could in order to get him to calm down. "And you two are?" Ben says, narrowing his pixelated eyes at us.

"Wait, what about Flint's treasure?" I ask, wanting to know fully about it. "I wanna say Larry and Lucy." B.E.N. said. "The-the centroid of the mechanism, or-" Jim said, stumbling on his words. This was getting us nowhere. We were talking to a nutcase robot that has no single inkling of Flint's treasure.

I rub the back of my neck with the arm that I had bruised and sighed. "Sorry. My memory isn't as good as it used to be. I literally lost my mind. Haha!" B.E.N. laughed crazily, "Have you two have found it, by any chance?" He starts to pad us down as if he's looking for something.

"Found what?" I ask, raising my arms. "My missing piece? My primary memory circuit?" B.E.N. answered, turning around to reveal that piece he's talking about is gone from the back of his head.

I pinched the bridge of my nose for a minute. "Look, B.E.N. Jim and I need to go find a place to hide. C'mon, Jim. Let's get out of here." I say, starting to walk forward with Jim beside me. "Oh, uh, so, well, then… I guess this is good-bye then." B.E.N. says, forlornly.

Jim and I stop walking and look back at the robot, who was on his metal knees. "Sorry for being so dysfunctional." B.E.N. sadly says, looking down, "So um… you two go ahead. I understand. I do. Bye-bye." Jim and I looked at each other for a minute while Morph whined at us.

We feel sympathy for this lonely but nutty robot. I rub my head for a moment then rubbed the back of my neck again. "Okay. Fine. You can come. You need to stop talking." Jim says, making the robot overjoyed.

"Hazzah! Ha ha ha! This is fantastic! Me and my best buddies are lookin' for a… being quiet." he says, wrapping his metal arms around our shoulders. "And another thing. Stop touching us." I tell him directly. "Touching and talking. The big no-no's." B.E.N. says, stepping away from us.

"Let's go before the pirates find us." I say, wanting to get a move on. "Say, listen, before we go out on our big search, would you guys mind if we make a pit stop at our place? Kind of urgent." B.E.N. asks, pulling back some of the bamboo like trees to reveal a rusty, spaceship shaped structure with a giant opening in the front.

Jim and I widened our eyes in surprise. "B.E.N., I think you solved our problem." Jim says with a smile. "Thank you." I say, with relief. At that moment, we have found a perfect place to hide from the pirates. It was perfect.


	12. Chapter 12 Bargaining

No less than a few hours pass by. It was evening now. We had gone back to tell Delbert and Amelia. Delbert had to carry Amelia inside because she was still injured from the fall down here.

B.E.N.'s place was actually pretty secluded. I didn't think that those pirates would be able to find us in here. "Pardon the mess, people. You'd think after a hundred years, I would've dusted up a little." B.E.N. says, trying to clean up this messy place, but you know when you batch it, you tend to let things go." He sees Delbert holding Amelia in his arms and immediately gushes over them.

"Aw… isn't that sweet? I find old-fashioned romance so touching, don't you?" B.E.N rattles on, getting me to roll my eyes. Delbert clarifies that he and Amelia were not dating in any way. He then looks up at the walls of this building.

"Look at these markings. They're identical to the ones on the map. I suspect these are hieroglyphic remnants of an ancient culture." Delbert says. They do look like the markings on the map.

"You two. Stop anyone who tries to approach. Ohh." Amelia orders, grabbing her side. "Yes, now listen to me. Stop giving orders for a few milliseconds and lie still." Delbert scolds, trying to make Amelia as comfortable as possible.

"Very forceful, Doctor. Go on, say something else." Amelia chuckles, looking at Delbert with a slight mischievous glint. I cross my arms and look down, feeling my bruised arm flare up a little. It caused me to wince. Jim turns to look at me with concern.

"You okay, Jen?" he asks, noticing the pang of pain on my face. "Yeah. My arm's still sore." I told him, seeing that the bruises on my arm were purple. "Don't over work yourself. It may be more than bruised." He reminds me.

"Yeah. You're right. But I'll feel better in no time. It'll take more than these to do me in." I reply, giving a nudge. He playfully shoves me back. "Knowing you, it surely will." he says with a grin. I grin back at him.

Our moment was short lived though. "Hey, Jimmy, Jenny! There's some of your buddies! Hey fellas! We're over here, fellas!" B.E.N. shouts. Instantly Jim and I jump over to the opening with our guns out. Jim pulls B.E.N. inside as the pirates started to shoot at us.

Jim and I started firing back at them, frustrated that our cover was now blown. When the pirates started to fire back, Jim and I hid behind the wall to avoid getting shot. Then, the firing ceased.

"Hello, up there!" Silver's voice echoed. A wave of anger and nausea washed over my stomach. Jim and I peek over the wall. Silver was coming up with a white flag as if to surrender. But no, we didn't let our guard down; not even for a minute.

"Jimbo? Jenny? If it's all right with the captain… I'd like a short word with you two." Silver says, stepping up on the hill. He claimed that there weren't any tricks involved.

Jim and I look at each other. "Do you believe what he's saying?" I ask Jim. His eyes narrowed and he said, "No. Not for a minute. Do you?" "No." I answer, still having a grip on my gun.

"Come to bargain for the map, doubtless. Pestilential…" Amelia scowls. "Captain!" Delbert scolds, pushing her back down. I rub my chin for a moment in thought. "Wait a minute, he doesn't know… that it's still on the ship." I say, giving a smile. "Yeah, you're right. He thinks we still have it." Jim says.

With this knowledge, Jim and I reluctantly make our way down to where Silver was. Morph flew over to Silver happily. "Ah, Morphy! I wondered where you was off to." Silver says as the blob nuzzled against him.

He sighs and sits down on a rock. He rubbed his metal leg that Jim had stabbed. "Oh, this poor old leg's downright snarky… since we had that game attack in the galley." Silver says, chuckling.

Remembering what he said back there, both Jim and I glare at the cyborg with a look of pure anger and disgust. After hearing that, I lost all of my trust with Silver. I knew Jim did as well.

"Ahh… Look. Whatever it was that you both heard in the galley concerning y'all, I didn't mean a word of it." Silver said, leaning forward, "Had that bloodthirsty lot found out I'd gone soft on you both, they'd have gutted us both."

He stands back up and puts his arm around us. "Listen, if our cards are played right, the three of us could walk away rich as royalty." Silver says to us. Jim held his chin for a moment. "Yeah?" he says, giving an open smile slightly. "Really?" I say.

My heart was telling me openly that he's baiting us to a degree. I didn't trust it at all. "You both bring the map to me, and a good portion of the treasure is yours to keep." Silver declared, holding out his metal hand to seal this deal. All we did was stare at it for a minute.

"Man, you are really something." I say, shaking my head a bit. We start to walk around Silver. "All that talk of greatness and preaching about the light coming off our sails? It's nothing but a joke." Jim states, seeing through Silver's blatant lies.

"Now, wait a minute-" Silver stuttered, shrugging his shoulders. "But you did teach us to stick to it, didn't you? Well, that's what Jim and I are gonna do." I cut him off, becoming angrier by the second. "Yeah, Jen and I are gonna make sure that you never see one drabloon of our treasure!" Jim shouts at Silver.

"That treasure is owed me, by thunder!" Silver yelled. "WELL, GOOD LUCK FINDING IT WITHOUT OUR MAP, BY THUNDER!" I shouted. I was angry at Silver, and the tone in my voice and the look on our faces proved it. My fists were clenched together and my teeth were bared. Words couldn't express just how angry I felt. I hadn't felt this angry since my last visit in juvy.

"Oh, you two still don't know how to pick your fights? Now, mark me. Either I get that map by dawn tomorrow, or so help me, I'll use the ship's cannons to BLAST YA ALL TO KINGDOM COME!" Silver shouts at us. He turned around so that his back was to us.

"Morph, hop to it." Silver tells Morph, "NOW!" Morph hid behind Jim, shaking at Silver raising his voice. With a grunt, Silver turns and limps away from us.

Jim and I give that cyborg one last look of anger before turning around to head back inside. What Silver said was personal.


	13. Chapter 13 Finding a Way Out

Some hours have passed. It was now night. I was perched on the opening to B.E.N's place with my left leg propped up and my half clothed arm resting on it. A lot was going through my mind since that discussion with Silver.

From where I was, I could see where the pirates were located. They had a small fire lit up at the bottom of the hill. Mixed in with those thoughts, I thought of mom. I missed her dearly. I knew Jim did as well.

My other hand gained a mind of its own and it gently held the necklace that I got when I turned 15 years old. Since I got it, I have never taken it off.

I feel a hand touch my shoulder, causing me to jump a bit. I turned my head to see that it was just Jim. "Sorry. Heh." he apologized with a slight chuckle. "It's okay. You didn't scare me that bad anyway." I say, scooting up a bit.

"Something on your mind, sis?" Jim asks in a quiet voice. I let my head lean back against the rusty wall for a second. "You caught me. There's a lot going through my mind." I say, letting my hand drop to my lap.

He leans against the wall adjacent to me. "Tell me about it." he says, not looking away from me. "It's what Silver told us. We can't let him get his hands on that map." I answer him, looking up at the sky. "Right. I couldn't agree with you more. But… how are gonna get it?" Jim wondered, looking up at the sky with me.

"Whatever the cost may be, getting that map is our only solution now if we want to do what we came on this journey for." I tell Jim. "Yeah. I agree. You think that mom will be proud of us?" Jim asks, leaning up towards me. I smirk at him and lift up my hand. "Guarantee it." I reply with confidence.

Our palms touched and our fingers intertwined with one another. We each chuckle for a moment of enthusiasm. I swing my body over the side and stand back up. Jim joins me.

"And what?! What?! We must stay together and what?!" Delbert asked, taking his glasses off his face. Jim and I walk over to them to see what the commotion is.

"Doctor, you have wonderful eyes." Amelia says in a daze. "She's lost her mind!" Delbert said, looking at Jim and I. "Well, you gotta help her!" Jim says, taking a step forward. She was probably woozy from the wreck we had.

"Dang it, Jim. I'm an astronomer, not a doctor. I mean, I am a doctor, but I'm not that kind of doctor. I have a doctorate. It's not the same thing. You can't help people with a doctorate. You just sit there and you're useless!" Delbert rambles, putting his fists up to his temples.

I walk over and put my hands on Delbert's shoulders for a minute. "It's okay, Doc. Don't stress out so much." I assure him. He glances back for a minute. "Don't worry, doc! Jimmy and Jenny know exactly how we're gonna get out of this!" B.E.N. says, "It's just Jimmy and Jenny have a knowledge of things."

Jim and I walk back over to the opening of this place and look outside. "Jim, Jenny, any thoughts at all?" B.E.N. whispers, his metal hand up to his face. I gaze up at the sky, the ship is in sight. "Well, trying to leave this place is suicide." I say, thinking clearly. "Yeah, and without the map we're dead. And if we stay here-" Jim says, rubbing his head.

"We're dead! We're dead! We're dead! We're dead!" Morph repeats, then whines in concern. I rubbed the back of my neck and felt my head pounding from thinking so much. Neither of us knew exactly how we were gonna get the map.

"Well, I think that Jimmy and Jenny could use a little quiet time. Heh. So I'll just slip out of the back door." B.E.N. says. Jim and I perk up at the mention of a back door. "Back door?" Jim blinks, looking back.

We ran to where B.E.N. was at. He was rolling a spherical object that had a hole in the center. Light was protruding from the opening. "Oh yeah, I get this delightful breeze through here… which I think is important because ventilation among friends-" B.E.N. rambled, Jim and I look down the opening.

Inside was an incessant cycle of machines and wiring. "Woah, Jim. Are you seeing this?" I ask, amazed by this. "Yeah, what is all of this?" Jim asks. "You mean the miles and miles of machinery that runs through the entire course of this planet? Not a clue." B.E.N. answered, leaning on the sphere.

"Hey, doc, doc! We found a way out of here!" Jim exclaims, starting to climb in the sphere. "No, no, Jim, Jen, wait! The captain ordered us to stay-" Delbert starts, trying to stop us. "We'll be right back!" I tell him, before jumping inside. Jim and B.E.N. follow suit. We were already gone before Delbert could finish his statement.


End file.
